The White Court

SCOTUS
Cases by term
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Judgeships
	Posts: 9
	Judges: 9
Judges
	Chief: John Roberts
	Active: Samuel Alito, Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Elena Kagan, Brett Kavanaugh, John Roberts, Sonia Sotomayor, Clarence Thomas

The White Court lasted from December 1910 until May 1921, during the presidencies of William Howard Taft (R) and Woodrow Wilson (D).

Edward Douglass White was nominated as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States by President William H. Taft on December 12, 1910. He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on the same day. White held the position of Chief Justice until his death on May 19, 1921. He had previously served as Associate Justice, a position he was nominated to by President Grover Cleveland in February 1894. ^[1]

Associate justices

The justices in this table served during the White Court.

Tenure	Justice	Nominated By
1877-1911	John Harlan I	Rutherford B. Hayes
1898-1925	Joseph McKenna	William McKinley
1902-1932	Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.	Theodore Roosevelt
1903-1922	William Rufus Day	Theodore Roosevelt
1910-1914	Horace Harmon Lurton	William Howard Taft
1911-1916	Joseph Rucker Lamar	William Howard Taft
1911-1937	Willis Van Devanter	William Howard Taft
1912-1922	Mahlon Pitney	William Howard Taft
1914-1941	James Clark McReynolds	Woodrow Wilson
1916-1922	John Hessin Clarke	Woodrow Wilson
1916-1939	Louis Brandeis	Woodrow Wilson

Major cases

Standard Oil violates Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1911)

John D. Rockefeller owned Standard Oil, the largest oil company in the United States at the time. In 1909, a federal court found that Standard Oil violated the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. In the U.S. Supreme Court's opinion, written by White, the court determined that Standard Oil did violate the Sherman Act and amended the Act to state that only unreasonable contracts restraining trade would constitute a violation.^[2]

United States v. American Tobacco Company (1911)

In 1911, a group of tobacco companies were taken to court in violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. The Supreme Court found the companies had violated the Act and ordered the collective to be dissolved.^[3]

Eight-hour workday (1916)

On September 3, 1916, Congress established the Adamson Act, which would limit the workday to eight hours in order to avoid a railroad strike. On March 19, 1917, railroad companies accepted some provisions of the Act, and the Supreme Court ruled, in a 5-4 vote, that the Act was constitutional.

Mandatory draft is constitutional (1918)

In this case, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the military draft, holding that the Thirteenth Amendment was not violated with compulsatory military service.^[4]

Language in grandfather clauses must be neutral (1915)

In the post-Reconstruction era, some states created grandfather clauses that discriminated against Black people by restricting their right to vote. In 1907, Oklahoma established its statehood, giving every man the right to vote. Within a year, the state determined that a voter must take a literacy test. There were exceptions to the rule, granting most white men of European descent the right to vote. In 1911, Frank Guinn and J.J. Beal, two election officials, were convicted of refusing Black voters the right to vote. The Supreme Court determined that the grandfather clauses were only acceptable if neutrally written, and that the grandfather clause inherently brought racial discrimination "into existence since it is based purely on a period of time before the enactment of the Fifteenth Amendment and makes that period the controlling and dominant test of the right of suffrage."^[5]

About the court

See also: Supreme Court of the United States

The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the country and leads the judicial branch of the federal government. It is often referred to by the acronym SCOTUS.^[6]

The Supreme Court consists of nine justices: the Chief Justice of the United States and eight Associate Justices. The justices are nominated by the president and confirmed with the "advice and consent" of the United States Senate per Article II of the United States Constitution. As federal judges, the justices serve during "good behavior," which means that justices have tenure for life unless they are removed by impeachment and subsequent conviction.^[7]

On January 27, 2022, Justice Stephen Breyer officially announced he would retire at the start of the court's summer recess.^[8]^[9] Breyer assumed senior status on June 30, 2022.^[10] Ketanji Brown Jackson was confirmed to fill the vacancy by the Senate in a 53-47 vote on April 7, 2022.^[11] Click here to read more.

The Supreme Court is the only court established by the United States Constitution (in Article III); all other federal courts are created by Congress.

The Supreme Court meets in Washington, D.C., in the United States Supreme Court building. The Supreme Court's yearly term begins on the first Monday in October and lasts until the first Monday in October the following year. The court generally releases the majority of its decisions in mid-June.^[7]

Number of seats on the Supreme Court over time

See also: History of the Supreme Court

Number of Justices	Set by	Change
Chief Justice + 5 Associate Justices	Judiciary Act of 1789
Chief Justice + 4 Associate Justices	Judiciary Act of 1801 (later repealed)	-1
Chief Justice + 6 Associate Justices	Seventh Circuit Act of 1807	+2
Chief Justice + 8 Associate Justices	Eighth and Ninth Circuits Act of 1837	+2
Chief Justice + 9 Associate Justices	Tenth Circuit Act of 1863	+1
Chief Justice + 6 Associate Justices	Judicial Circuits Act of 1866	-3
Chief Justice + 8 Associate Justices	Judiciary Act of 1869	+2